The present invention generally relates to a supply arrangement, and more particularly, to a part supply arrangement for transporting parts or components to be fed into automatic part mounting machines installed in a factory at high speeds and positioning with high accuracy.
Conventionally, for supplying parts or components into an automatic part mounting machine (referred to merely as a mounting machine hereinafter), it has been a general practice to shut down the mounting machine when the parts are used up so as to manually exchange part units or to transport such part units to a position close to the mounting machine by an automatic transport vehicle or a belt conveyor, thereby loading the part unit onto the mounting machine either manually or by an industrial robot.
However, in the conventional practice as described above which relies on man power, not only is much time is taken for the exchange, but mis-handling, etc. tends to take place, thus making it difficult to introduce automization on the whole. Furthermore, there has also been a problem that providing another mechanism between the automatic transport vehicle such as an industrial robot and the mounting machine to effect the automization undesirably complicates the arrangement, with a consequent rise in cost for the entire installation.